Wednesday, April 11, 2012

From time to time we enjoy watching battles unfold over industry videos and images that depict less than credible things done with sharks on a commercial level.

The battle lines tend to run predictably with online quotes by industry types, photographers, and one sparkling industry source, "Drudown."

Who Drudown is remains a mystery, and we guess that's for a reason. But if you happen to be a fan of reason, and we are, his words resonate against a backdrop of weekend sharkies who have done a few sharks trips and have seen Shark Week and therefore are experts on sharks.

They may even have a few images of sharks wrapping knife edged teeth around expensive housings making them the most dangerous of commentators - the shark fanatic.

We only preface this by placing Drudowns latest post as prima facie evidence of smart, intelligent thinking about human interactions with sharks. Sans the moronic sound bytes of the shark fanatics who more often than not get sidelined with the small minded "falling coconuts and lightning strike" analogies of the shark/human interaction space.

Here's Drudown on a recent video making the rounds:

I find
it humorous that the person claiming to divine from the video that
"tiger sharks can be friendly, seeking out interaction with humans
because they enjoy the touch that stimulates their ampullae of lorenzini
and induces a trance-like state" would allege human/predator data
(i.e., re food rewards) observed from Animal Planet is somehow
unscientific, i.e., the data is the data, regardless of the medium it is
relayed. In contrast, the video on this thread does not provide data to
support your claims. First, sharks are only put in a trance-like state
when turned upside down. Second, Tiger sharks have no cognitive or
emotional ability to be "friends" with any creature and have been known
to eat their own young. The feelings of "connection" that spring from
Kin Selection are inapplicable to pelagic sharks. That is undisputed
science.

With regards to your speculative theory that Tiger sharks "enjoy" the
interaction, it is likewise as unscientific as "mistaken identity"
theory. I'm a lawyer too, and- aside from speculative shark theory not
being subject to the scientific method- I find it very telling that the
"justification" or "explanations" proffered are inadmissible in a court
of law. Namely, just as the Dog Whisperer (Cesar Millan) cannot take an
oath and testify as to "why" a Pit Bull attacked a person, so too, is xxx unable to testify as to what a Tiger or Bull shark thinks
when it attacked Sergei Zaloukaev or any of the hundred Haitian victims
devoured when their sailboat sank on May 4, 2007 in the Florida Straits
(not too far from the Bahamas)... nor accurately control "risk" of an
attack when one arrives for a free handout at his commercial tours.

In other words, if a very hungry Tiger shark arrived on the scene
after a long migration, the operator is attracting a dangerous predator.
Like I have said previously, people are free to assume whatever risks
they want. But citing to the statistical infrequency of shark attacks is
somewhat misleading insofar that our oceans fish stocks are being
depleted at an alarming rate. Climate change works and is. Coupled with
attracting large and aggressive sharks to compete over a paltry amount
of food, I think people grossly underestimate the actual distribution of
risks and are very misleading about why sharks are dangerous. They are
generalist feeders. They are unpredictable. They are known to prey on
people in the same geographical area, albeit typically under different
conditions such as a maritime disaster. Nevertheless, all that is
science.

How's this. If someone (as they probably do) were to organize tours
in Tanzania to see the Chimpanzees, the same analysis would be necessary
and proper. Like Tiger/Bull/White sharks, Chimpanzees are potentially
DANGEROUS towards humans and it is because they eat meat- including
ours. I don't care if Jane Goodall is your tour guide, she can't protect
you from ravenous Chimpanzees any more than xxx can protect
people from sharks without the benefit of a cage.

Ya gotta love Florida.If you're looking for beach related items you'll find them for sale at almost every corner shop in the entire state.

Beach towels? Yup, they got that.

Sunglasses? Yup, they got that too.

Seashells? By the bucket load.

Dead Tiger shark pups? WTF?

Apparently there's a company called Atlantic Coral Enterprise that takes dead Tiger pups from the Philippines and mounts them. Complete with a set of novelty googly eyes they sell these shark horrors for the princely sum of $49.99.

Of course we're not impressed at all.

In our world Tiger pups don't look like deflated tubes of dried leather. In our world Tiger pups look like this. Take your pick, which world do you want to live in?

Video by Fraizer Nivens, Tiger Beach, Bahamas 2011.

About Shark Diver.
As a global leader in commercial shark diving and conservation initiatives Shark Diver has spent the past decade engaged for sharks around the world. Our blog highlights all aspects of both of these dynamic and shifting worlds. You can reach us directly at sharkcrew@gmail.com.